By Sharyn L. Decker
Lewis County Sirens news reporter
CHEHALIS – One expert says he is competent to stand trial and another expert says he is not.
Centralia resident Weston G. Miller, 30, is charged with first-degree murder in the March shooting death of his house guest, 43-year-old David Wayne Carson.
Miller told police he acted in self-defense, but Lewis County Prosecutor Jonathan Meyer has said it was unprovoked attack in his house on B Street.
The former welder was also charged with unlawful possession of a firearm, after police searched the home and found five guns, a silencer, a laser site for a gun and a bullet-proof vest.
Miller appeared briefly in Lewis County Superior Court this morning when lawyers scheduled a half-day hearing for next month.
Meyer said an evaluation conducted by Western State Hospital concluded Miller is competent and a defense expert concluded he is not.
A judge will hear from both sides on August 15 and make a decision, according to Meyer.
Carson, a Centralia resident who had just signed up for college and was going to learn to fly so he could go work in Alaska, died of two gunshot wounds to his chest area on March 13.
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For background, read “B Street homicide: Defendant says self defense” from Wednesday March 14, 2012, here [1]